1 Sam 24:20, And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
	In this morning’s reading we have the account of the manner in which David refused to take matters into his own hands. He was presented with the opportunity to easily slay King Saul. Instead of that vile action, David merely cut off part of Saul’s robe. Even that brought David grief as he felt guilty that he had done such a thing to the Lord’s anointed king over Israel. 
	This is a wonderful account of the need to never take anything into our own hands as a means of trying to accomplish some task that we think the Lord has set before us. We always need to look to Him to do everything that is part and parcel of His great work. We simply obey as He directs. We make every effort not to interfere or intervene or impose our own ideas and concepts against that which is purely His work to do.
	It was widely known and accepted, even by Saul, that David was chosen by God to be the next monarch over Israel. Samuel had anointed the shepherd boy, David, as the future king over the nation. There was a growing consensus that the people would eventually be ruled by David instead of the descendents of Saul, as is the way of this world. This was evidenced in the manner in which David was seen as the king in waiting by others even before he took the throne. 
Consider as but one example, the manner in which he was encouraged by Abigail, the wife of Nabal, when she was beseeching David and his men not to harm her family because of the great disrespect Nabal had hurled at David. This is detailed in the next chapter of this book, 1 Sam 25:26-31.
	1 Sam 25:26-31, Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, since the Lord has restrained you from shedding blood, and from avenging yourself by your own hand, now then let your enemies, and those who seek evil against my lord, be as Nabal. And now let this gift which your maidservant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who accompany my lord. Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you all your days. And should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. And it shall come about when the Lord shall do for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and shall appoint you ruler over Israel, that this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the Lord shall deal well with my lord, then remember your maidservant." 
	It is obvious that many of the people were already looking at David as the next king after Saul, rather than accepting the lineage of the current king. It was known that the Lord, through the Prophet Samuel, had chosen and anointed David as the one to whom the kingdom would be given. It was also readily evident, through all the victories over the Philistines in which the Lord had given David the victory, how much David’s fame and love in the heart of the people was growing. God was at work to make His choice the people’s choice.
	That is why Saul, because he recognized that David would eventually take the throne, made the pact contained in this morning’s reading. He hoped that David, when he became king, would be kind to the descendents of Saul, and not kill them. This often would take place when a throne was usurped by a personage of a different blood line. 
	History is filled with all the atrocities that would be committed upon the family of the deposed monarch. There is that human propensity to try to eliminate any descendent that might be seen by the people as a more rightful ruler by birth, than by power or intrigue. Accordingly, Saul was aware that his family was in peril as any of his descendents that remained alive could be considered a threat to the one who then sat on the throne of the kingdom.
	Saul was also very aware that his relationship with God had deteriorated to the point at which God no longer was showing Saul that which he needed to do as king. There was that reality in the heart and mind of Saul that he had wasted away the chance to have the throne as his legacy in the history of Israel. 
Therefore, when he was faced with the imminent battle against the army of the Philistines seeking to destroy him, Saul went to a medium to conjure up the spirit of Samuel. He was that desperate to try to gain some insight into the course to take since he was no longer in communication with God to be his guide. He knew that the kingdom was being wrested from his hands by The Lord, as detailed in 1 Sam 28:15-17.
	1 Sam 28:15-17, Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has departed from me and answers me no more, either through prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do." And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your adversary? "And the Lord has done accordingly as He spoke through me; for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. 
	After Saul, along with a number of his sons, was killed in that battle, the nation was divided. Some of the tribes, especially Judah, were following David. The other tribes were following one of the sons of Saul who had escaped death in that battle. 
There was civil turmoil and separation that required the work of God to heal and to mend the rending asunder of the hearts of the people. One of the key movers of those who followed the lineage of Saul was Abner, a chief proponent and aide to Saul during his reign. After a series of mishaps and betrayals, Abner gathered a number of the elders and encouraged them, as detailed in 2 Sam 3:17+18, to ultimately choose David to unite the nation.
	2 Sam 3:17+18, Now Abner had consultation with the elders of Israel, saying, "In times past you were seeking for David to be king over you. Now then, do it! For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, 'By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.'" 
	The ascension of David into the kingship over all the nation is recounted for us in 2 Sam 5:1-5, as that which the Lord ordained was finally brought into fulfillment with regard to the earthly king of Israel. There was a recognition by all the tribes of that which the Lord had determined long ago and which Saul anticipated as was evident in this morning’s reading.
	2 Sam 5:1-5, Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. Previously, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. And the Lord said to you, 'You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel.'" So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the Lord at Hebron; then they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. 
	David gave all the credit to the Lord for the manner in which Jehovah protected this shepherd boy all the days of his life. Throughout the Psalms are those praises to God for the manner of His faithfulness and protection and support and encouragement of David, especially in the midst of the persecution and life threatening pursuit of King Saul in all his attempts to kill David. 
It was this heart after the Lord which served the Lord’s purposes, especially in the time in which David could have taken the matter into his own hands by killing Saul in the cave. But he chose to not touch the Lord’s anointed. David, rather, allowed Jehovah to install him on the throne in the manner in which God would choose to do so.
	In Ps 18:16-26 we have all honor and praise of God for His loving kindness and mercy and grace and protection declared by David. This is as he recounted the manner in which the Lord proved Himself gloriously and magnificently every time David was in peril. This was because David chose the way of honoring the Lord instead of taking matters into his own hands.
	Ps 18:16-26, He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His ordinances were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me. I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes. With the kind Thou dost show Thyself kind; With the blameless Thou dost show Thyself blameless; With the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure; And with the crooked Thou dost show Thyself astute. 
	Again we hear this heart of David after the Lord detailed in Ps 63. This is one of those wonderfully delightful detailings of the way in which David’s heart was fully after that which would honor the Lord and grow the relationship which he had with Jehovah. He held to the place that God deserves in the hearts and minds and lives of all His people.
	Ps 63, O God, Thou art my God; I shall seek Thee earnestly; My soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh yearns for Thee, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have beheld Thee in the sanctuary, To see Thy power and Thy glory. Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise Thee. So I will bless Thee as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember Thee on my bed, I meditate on Thee in the night watches, For Thou hast been my help, And in the shadow of Thy wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to Thee; Thy right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life, to destroy it, Will go into the depths of the earth. They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; They will be a prey for foxes. But the king will rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him will glory, For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped. 
	The outcome of the placement of David upon the throne of the Lord’s people has come to a climax in the person of Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God. He is now seated upon the throne of all creation, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. He, too, faced the fury of the then king of Israel, much as had David in his flight from the hatred of Saul. 
Jesus was the target of the rage and the anger and the fury and the fear of then King Herod who sought to destroy this one who could take away his legacy and history in the kingship of the Israelites. This is accounted for us in Matt 2:1-15 as the magi sought to honor the new born King of the Jews. This brought Herod to the utter annihilation of the children of Bethlehem in his anxiety that there might be one who would claim the throne from his heritage.  
Matt 2:1-15, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him." And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet, 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler, Who will shepherd My people Israel.'" Then Herod secretly called the magi, and ascertained from them the time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, "Go and make careful search for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, that I too may come and worship Him." And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him." And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Out of Egypt did I call My Son." 
	Later, in Luke 12:22-32, as Jesus was teaching His disciples the manner in which they were to conduct themselves on this earth, He brought them to the truth of what God had put into place. There was a kingdom over which Jesus would be the eternal King. He would show them that they should not worry about any of the earthly needs and concerns. They were to live in the reality that God had given them everything in Jesus. The kingdom was theirs because they were partakers in the life that Jesus brought in His service unto those in such need. 
	Luke 12:22-32, And He said to His disciples, "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. "For life is more than food, and the body than clothing. "Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; and they have no storeroom nor barn; and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! "And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? "If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why are you anxious about other matters? "Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. "But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith! "And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. "But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 
This is the kingdom which is now in place with Jesus as the Lord of all because it has been eternally ordained and established by Jehovah. It began with a shepherd boy whose heart was after the Lord and it is culminated for all eternity in the person of Jesus, the Messiah of the Jews and the Christ of all those who will but believe upon Him and receive His everlasting life. There is nothing of sinful mankind in any human effort. It is all by the work and the mercy and the grace and the love of God, and God, Alone! So be it. 
And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Amen.

Mother’s Day blessing - Titus 2:1-9, But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored. Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. 
	This morning’s benediction is Ps 32:11. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. Amen.